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(No Model.)

G. W. WASHBURN.

l CLASP FASTENING POR BRACELETS. No. 321.066. Patented June 30.1885:

N. PETERS. PmwLizho-gmphr. wa-hiugaon. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WV. WASHBURN, OF WEST NEW BRIGHTON, NEV YORK.

CLASP-FASTENING Fon BRACELETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 321,066, dated June 30, 1885.

' Application filed April 6, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. WASHBURN, a citizen of the United States, residing at West New Brighton, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Clasp-Fastenings for Bracelets, Src., of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for locking the clasp-fastenings or spring-snaps of bracelets, necklaces, and other articles of personal wear provided therewith, so as to keep them from becoming accidentally opened or detached.

The special objects of the present invention are, first, to furnish a neat, compact, and secure lock,7 which is wholly7 external and otherwise adapted for application to the ordinary linger-piece of an ordinary clasp-fastening or spring-snap, either in an unfinished or finished state, without any soldering or alterations 5 secondly, to so construct thelocking-bar that when reversed to unlock the fastening or snap it forms a large and effectively-located surface to press upon in opening the bracelet or other article, as compared with the edge of the customary thin nger-piece, and, thirdly, to utilize an eXtra yielding ofthe spring-tongue ofthe fastening or snap for holding the locking-bar tightly down in its locking position, so that it shall be less liable to be accidentally reversed or to be caught in lace or thelike worn therewith.

lyly said invention consists in the said locking-bar in combination with the linger-piece, spring-tongue, and shell of an ordinary claspfastening or spring-snap, and in certain novel features thereof, adapting it to operate and to be secured as aforesaid, as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

A sheet of drawings, bearing ve figures, accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure 1 of these drawings is an edge view of a bracelet provided with my said lockingbar, showing the same closed and locked, and Fig. 1X a top View thereof as viewed in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same,showing it opened, and Fig. 2X a top view thereof as viewed in Fig. 2; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the reversed locking-bar with its pivot detached.

Like letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the figures.

The bracelet shown in the drawings apart from said locking-piece and its pivot, Fig. 3, is of an ordinary make. As is customary, the two-part shield a b of its clasp-fastening or spring-snap is formed by the hollow ends ofthe bracelet-halves opposite its hinge c. Within one part, a, of said shell a rigid or relatively rigid tongue, d, is made fast `at its inner end. The spring-tongue e of the fastening or snap is attached to the outer extremity of said rigid tongue. Its finger-piece f is attached to the other extremity of said spring-tongue. Aslot, g, in the top of the shell, formed in both parts, accommodates said lingerpiece, and a socket, h, within the shell part b is provided with a pair of internal projections at its outer end to coact with the extremity of said spring-ton gue when the fastening or snap is closed.

Said fastening or snap, being an illustrative ordinary one, fastens or catches automatically when the parts of the shell c b are brought together endwise, as in the act of closing the bracelet. To provide for securely locking it against becoming accidentally unfastened, and to facilitate opening it, a locking-bar, L, of peculiar construction, is attached by a pivot, p, Fig. 3, to said finger-piecef, so as to coact therewith and with said spring-tongue c and said ktop of the shell a b, as will now be set forth. A deep notch or slot, s, Fig. 3, fitted to said finger-piece f, bifurcates the pivot end of the locking-bar, and a pair of perforated lugs, Z, Fig. 3, and a hole drilled to correspond therewith in said finger-piece receive said pivot. Drilling said hole is the only thing done to said finger-piece or any part of the fastening or snap in fitting the locking-bar thereto. Turned so that the pivot is above the body of the bar, as shown in Figs. 1 1X, apart from the position represented in dotted lines in Fig. l, thelocking-bar secures or locks the closed fastening or catch, so that said spring-tongue of the shell part c cannot be depressed or work loose from said projections, which coact therewith in the socket of the shell part b.

By suitably extending said slots of the locking-bar and the location of said pivot-lugs on its back the bar serves, when reversed as shown in. dotted lines in Fig. l, to form an effective upwardly trending and r latively large surface, upon which the finger om umbA ICO

may conveniently press, as indicated by dotted arrow in Fig. l, to depress the unlocked iinger-piece and spring-tongue and to open the bracelet or other article. The locking-bar remains reversed, as represented in Figs. 2 2X, while the bracelet or other article is open, and requires no further manipulation until it is again turned into effective position to lock the closed article.

A pair of bearinglugs7 Z2, Fig. 3, on the face of the locking-bar locate its contact with the top of the shell part b in its eiective position beyond the pivot. In other Words, the pivot p is between the bearingsurface of the bar formed by said lugs and its lifting end Z,Fig. 3. Consequently an absolutely close contact of the latter with the top of the shell part a may not only be provided for, but an eXtra movement of the spring-tongue e and finger-piece f, or one of them, becomes necessary to a reversal of the locking-bar, and its accidental reversal is rendered proportionately less likely to oc-V cur, the resistance to such reversal tending to keep its lifting end down close and to call attention to its unlocking movement. Sufficient outward yielding for said purpose is believed to be common to such fastenings or snaps.

Having thus described my said improvement in clasp-fastenings for bracelets, Ste., I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this speciiication- 1. The combination,with an ordinary claspfastening or snap-catch, of a locking-bar attached to its ordinary finger-piece by a pivot, and adapted to interpose its body between said pivot and the top of the shell of the fastening or catch for locking the spring-tongue to which said finger-piece is attached, substantially as herein set forth.

2. In combination with the finger-piece, spring-tongue, and shell of a clasp-fastening or spring-snap, a locking-bar having a bifurcated pivot end fitted to said finger-piece, a pair of lugs on its back, and a pivot passing through said lugs and finger-piece, whereby said bar when reversed forms an effectively located and relatively large surface to receive the pressure of the finger or thumb in opening the unlocked fastening, substantially as herein set forth.

3. The within-described loeking-bar, having pivot-lugs on its back and bearing-lugs beyond the pivot on its face, in combination with the nger-piece, spring-tongue, and shell of a clasp-fastening or spring-snap, and a pivot passing through said pivot-lugs and fingerpiece, substantially as herein set forth, for the purposes stated.

GEO. YV. WASHBURN.

Witnesses:

GEO. S. MIDDLEBROOK, SAML. T. SUDLow. 

